Boxing World Championship: Amit Panghal becomes first Indian to enter Final

(Odisha Sports): Ace boxer Amit Panghal (52kg) on Friday became the first Indian Boxer to enter the finals in the ongoing World Men’s Boxing Championship at Russia. He defeated Kazakhstan’s Saken Bibbisinov by split decision (3-2) in the semi-final of the flyweight (48kg-52kg) division in Ekaterinburg,Russia.

For the Gold medal round, Panghal will fight against the Rio Olympic Champion Sakhobidin Zoirov of Uzbekistan in the 52 kg category. It will be his first face off with Zoirov. Before this, India had never won Silver medal in a single edition of the world championships but Panghal changed that by making it to the Final.

The past medal-winners for India at the world meet are Vijender Singh (2009), Vikas Krishan (2011), Shiva Thapa (2015) and Gaurav Bidhuri (2017).